Noel Grima
The General Workers Union informed the government yesterday that the workers it represents have accepted the agreement.
The Union Haddiema Maghqudin (UHM) is still holding out. It issued an aggressive statement yesterday threatening industrial action if the privatisation agreement is signed before it reaches an agreement with the government.
But UHM secretary general Gejtu Vella, in comments made to The Malta Independent on Sunday yesterday evening, said that negotiations on two collective agreements for operators and clerks are nearing completion but those for middle management still need to be sorted out. However, Mr Vella added, if the two sides made a concerted effort and held serious and long sessions between today and Tuesday, there is the possibilty that the agreement will be signed by Tuesday.
Mr Vella said he was ‘hopeful’ the agreement will be signed as planned.
A statement by the Ministry for Investments and IT meanwhile gave details of the financial package offered by the government to Freeport workers. This includes:
• More money for those who do more work than expected of them;
• A lump sum of Lm175 to cover July 2003 to December 2004;
• A Lm2 per week wage increase in 2005 and 2006; and
• An increase in the crane operators’ allowance.
Minister Austin Gatt congratulated the Freeport chairman, Mark Portelli, and GWU chiefs Tony Zarb, Manwel Micallef and section secretary Manwel Zammit on the GWU’s positive response.
This is the first agreement, Dr Gatt said, that addresses in a concrete way the problems of productivity and efficiency in such work sectors. The workers’ representatives have shown they have understood the real needs of the country and demonstrated maturity by adjusting their own personal needs to the need for the Maltese economy to be competitive.
Apart from accepting to link remuneration to productivity, the port workers also accepted changes in the agreement to ensure there is always an adequate number of them at work, to ensure more efficiency and permit the introduction of new measures of discipline and penalties.
They accepted to forego the wage structures they had and instead be paid according to the containers they handle.
As regards the negotiations with UHM, the ministry statement said that at last Monday’s meeting, the government had accepted the union’s demands that the workers are guaranteed that there will be no redundancies as a result of privatisation. This is completely novel, the ministry said, as even today the Freeport workers do not have this kind of guarantee.
The government could make this offer, the statement added, because the proposed purchaser is ready to invest in new machinery and increase productivity. If the deal falls through, it added, government will deal with the Freeport workers as it did with the Air Malta and PBS workers: it would not be able to give them any salary increases.
CMA CGM
CMA CGM, run by its founder, M. Jacques R. Saadé, is one of the major worldwide container shipping lines (ranking number five in the world).
The group operates a modern fleet of about 172 vessels on over 50 major shipping routes. It has 28 new vessels on order for delivery in the coming years.
In 2003, the group transported 2.8 millions containers (teu) and about four million teu will be carried in 2004, with a forecast total revenue of e4 billion.
With more than 200 ports of call in 126 countries and 400 agencies around the world (including 46 in China), CMA CGM has a strong worldwide network offering one of the largest scope of origins and destinations to its customers.
The 6,600 CMA CGM staff members around the world (of which 2,700 in France) show recognised know-how and high motivation.
Through various subsidiaries, CMA CGM, by providing end-to-end services across the transport chain, is a single logistics partner, meeting all its customers’ needs.
CMA CGM ambition is to improve its service to customers mainly by investing in new competitive vessels, efficient port terminals, inland networks and facilities and, last but not least, staff training.